japan

Japan’s eighth solar auction, for projects with a generation capacity of more than 250kW, has closed with bidders securing a total of 208MW.

Andy Colthorpe takes a look at what’s happening and what’s expected to happen in the Japanese large-scale PV market, with data and analysis courtesy of RTS Corporation and interviews with Vena Energy Japan, Sonnedix Japan and Baywa Japan.

German agriculture group BayWa has said its renewables business saw an “unusually strong” start to the year, driven by high demand for solar modules and the sale of a PV plant in Japan.

Canadian Solar has raised JPY22 billion (US$208 million) for its Japan Green Infrastructure Fund (JGIF), which will develop and accumulate solar projects in the Asian country.

Panasonic has announced plans to withdraw from manufacturing heterojunction (HJT) cells and modules with the closure of its manufacturing plants in Malaysia and Shimane Prefecture, Japan.

Private equity giant will invest US$374 million in solar and battery energy storage developer Amp Energy.

A round-up of solar news from throughout the holiday period including independent power producer Sonnedix's global expansion, US Solar Fund's solar-plus storage investment, and MPC Capital’s completion of a 6.4MWp solar project in El Salvador.

Solar will likely play a major role in achieving Japan’s policy goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero by 2050 and could reach 130GW to 160GW in cumulative deployments by the 2030 financial year.

Japan is to accelerate research and development of next generation solar technologies as part of a bid to establish a net zero economy by 2050.

Juwi Shizen Energy has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build a 54MW solar park on the site of a former golf course in Japan.